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Groundbreaking Celebrates Start of Kruizenga Art Museum Construction

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The groundbreaking celebration for the new Kruizenga Art Museum at Hope College emphasized
the building’s role as a resource not just in one discipline, and not just for the
campus, but across disciplines and for the entire Holland community and beyond.

“My vision is that art museums should be lively places that bring people together.
The phrase that I’ve settled on is that art museums should be a community convener,”
said Dana Friis-Hansen, director of the Grand Rapids Art Museum, who was the featured
speaker during a luncheon held in conjunction with the Friday, May 24, event.

“And I know that that’s the philosophy behind this wonderful place,” he said. “And
I predict that the Kruizenga, with its central location at an important campus crossroads,
will become a lively town square where wonderful exchanges will happen that will drive
creativity of all different types.”

The Kruizenga Art Museum, scheduled for completion in 2015, will be built immediately
northwest of the De Pree Art Center, for a total project cost of $5 million including
construction and a maintenance endowment goal. The museum is being developed with
an emphasis on engaging faculty and students from many academic disciplines in the
study and interpretation of art, and envisioned as an educational resource not only
for the college but for West Michigan.

The museum is among the initiatives of the college’s “A Greater Hope” comprehensive
campaign, announced in October 2011. It is being named in honor of a leadership gift
from Dr. Richard and the late Margaret Kruizenga of Dallas, Texas, and Holland.

“When we started this campaign, we really wanted to do for the arts what we had done
for the sciences, intercollegiate sport and some of our historic buildings,” said
Dr. James E. Bultman, president of Hope College. “What has evolved, I think, is a
very nice arts corridor that we hope will be enjoyed not just by the Hope College
community but by the community of Holland.”

The five blocks of Columbia Avenue between 13th and Eighth streets feature a variety of arts centers in addition to the Kruizenga
Art Museum, which will be located on Columbia Avenue at 11th Street near the already-extant De Pree Art Center and gallery. The college’s Dow
Center at the corner of Columbia and 13th Street houses studio space for the department of dance. The DeWitt Center and the
college’s main theatre are on Columbia at 12th Street. The college’s new concert hall and music facility is planned for Columbia
Avenue between 10th and Ninth streets, and the Holland Area Arts Council is near Columbia Avenue between
Ninth and Eighth streets. In addition, the college’s Knickerbocker Theatre is located
just a few doors away on Eighth Street between College and Columbia avenues, and the
Holland Museum is a few blocks west on 10th Street between River and Central avenues.

“Obviously we in Holland have much of that, but this facility, this museum, will help
add to the art and culture scene that already exists here in Holland with places like
the Arts Council down the road, or the Holland Museum close by,” he said. “But it’s
not just a Holland phenomenon. It’s really a whole West Michigan phenomenon. So
the presence of the Kruizenga Art Museum here in Holland in this location on this
campus is certainly a gift to Hope College, and a tremendous gift to Hope College,
but it is more than that because it is really a gift to the entirety of Holland and
a gift to the entirety of West Michigan.”

The museum will provide exhibition space for the college’s extensive Permanent Collection
as well as visiting exhibitions, with additional support for curation of the collection.
It will complement the De Pree Art Center, which will continue to host exhibitions
in addition to housing the offices and faculty and student studios of the department
of art.

The museum’s architect is Matt VanderBorgh of The Hague, The Netherlands, a 1984 Hope
graduate who is director of C Concept Design, which has developed projects in 19 countries
on four continents. Leadership guidance for advance programmatic planning has been
provided by Donald Battjes, a 1968 Hope graduate from Los Angeles, Calif., who is
retired from a career in corporate facilities and real estate administration, most
recently as chief of operations and facility planning with the Los Angeles County
Museum of Art.

Work across the summer months will focus on the museum site, including transformation
of the former 11th Street into a pedestrian walkway between Columbia and Lincoln avenues. Earlier in
the week, the college removed Gringhuis and Sligh cottages, whose lots will be part
of the art museum site.

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The groundbreaking celebration for the new Kruizenga Art Museum at Hope College emphasized the building’s role as a resource not just in one discipline, and not just for the campus, but across disciplines and for the entire Holland community and beyond.